Human rights and equality campaigners have come together to demand a parliamentary inquiry into why the infamous global security firm G4S was handed the contract to run a Government-funded helpline for victims of discrimination.

The news comes ahead of a debate in the House of Lords today (6 September) on the awarding of the contract.

The EASS provides expert advice and assistance on issues relating to equality and human rights across England, Scotland and Wales. Until October 2012, it was administered by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and in March this year a parliamentary report recommended the service be returned to the EHRC – a position fully supported by the EHRC themselves.

The campaigners want to see the award of the contract placed on hold until an investigation into both the tendering process and the suitability of G4S to deliver the service is carried out.

In November 2015, 37-year-old epileptic man Mohamoud Ahmed Ali died in his cell at G4S-run Parc prison in Wales.

An inquest jury found his condition was never diagnosed because escorts had repeatedly failed to take him to his medical appointments, despite referrals from neurologists after he began suffering seizures in 2012.

In 2011, during a High Court challenge, G4S whistleblowers prepared statements alleging routine racist and sexist abuse among staff and the use of unsafe restraint techniques.

A SumOfUs petition urging the Secretary of State for Education, Women and Equalities not to hand over the service to G4S, and instead hand responsibility back to the EHRC, has received more than 50,000 signatures.

Acting on these shared concerns, the charity Law Centres Network has initiated a legal challenge to the EASS contract tender process and to the offer of the contract to G4S, issuing a Letter Before Action to the Education Secretary in her capacity as Minister for Women and Equalities.

Bella Sankey, Director of Policy for Liberty, said: “The EASS provides expert advice to those who face discrimination – whether refused accommodation because of their race, or sacked from their job because of their age.

“G4S has been responsible for countless human rights violations, and the mistreatment and even unlawful killing of people in their care. It’s hard to think of a company more ill-equipped to provide this vital service.

“Liberty joins other equality and rights organisations in demanding that this perverse decision be halted while Parliament investigates.”